[yellow sitting, at a presidential desk] I've been thinking… if we tax the rich more fairly, they might just leave the country!
[blue, angsty, sitting in a chair next to the desk] Mr. President… I'm afraid you're right, we can't take that risk, we need them
[a rich character smoking a cigar next to a "0% LOANS" luggage] I hate spending and my wealth is unrealized gains, I contribute nothing to the economy
[another rich character is lounging in a deck chair on a beach, cocktail in hand, luggage on the sand] I've already left the country a long time ago
[another rich character leans against a stack of cash with a smug grin] My money is all in holdings, I barely pay any taxes
To be fair, those "holdings" are investment accounts, where the money gets to be used by a different rich person to exploit labor, because the billionaire can't even be bothered to do that themselves.
Not really, though. Maybe that money does something the day the holding is bought, but then it just becomes dead weight or even debt since the company might be eyeing it for a buyback. If I buy a stock for $1k today and in 10 years it's now worth $50k, that $50k isn't being used by the company to produce. It doesn't even exist at all until I decide to sell, at which point I keep the money for myself.
You're missing the point.
If I buy a stock for $1000 today, some other rich person gets to use that $1000 to exploit labor on my behalf, and if they are ruthless enough, the stock value will go up.
Then I can sell it to someone else, take the proceeds to live off of and buy more exploitation certificates.
No, because then the gains become realized and you'd need to pay taxes. Better to take a low-interest loan out against the assets and pay no taxes, like the meme says.
Elon didn't sell $50B of stock to buy Twitter. He took loans from foreign nationals using stock as collateral.
This. No need to realize any gains at all. The same trick also works for any other expenses.
Of course. I was simplifying.